For Lack of a Better Word
by RedJadeItachi
Summary: Harry Potter decides to relax after a harrowing fifth year practically destroyed him and everything he knows; however, the fickle friend of fate decides for both him and Draco Malfoy that their lives will be inescapably intertwined and complicated.
1. Chapter 1

Hey all! Red here! This is my first fanfiction so please be kind to me!

Valac: Ya' know Muse-chan, lying isn't the best way to kick things off.

Red: Stuff it Valac. I'm not lying, this is the first time I've ever posted something that is entirely my own ... well ... minus the part that J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter series and it's characters and I'm just writing an alternate storyline that's mine and mine alone but ...

Kusaka: Flame boy was referring to Naruto, Sasuke and a Squirrel WhatTHE!?!

Red: Oh, that, right ... well that's a collaboration on mine and ... i think she calls herself demonclowsorceress here ... but yeah, i'm just the muse for that, it's not "mine" in the sense that I'm referring to.

Valac: Tch. Fine, fine, fine, just get on with the story.

Red: Okie dokie! But this is a Harry Potter fanfiction so I have no idea why you and Kusaka randomly appeared.

Kusaka: To help you explain things of course. Now then, a proper disclaimer and summary should be stated.

Red: Uhhh ... sure.

Disclaimer/warning: I don't own Harry Potter or any of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter related paraphernalia. This particular storyline is mine and any person stealing it shall be caught and forced to spend eternity in the darkest recesses of my mind, trust me, it's not a good thing. Also, the characters will be acting the way I perceive them so if you don't like it don't read it and if you don't like guy on guy don't read it either.

Summary: In which Harry is chastised and Ron and Hermione are left dumbfounded.

**For Lack of a Better Word**

**Chapter One**

**Harry was, for lack of a better word, bored. It was now November of his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and nothing had happened since the Ministry of Magic debacle at the end of last year. Harry knew that he really should be thankful that nothing big that affects both worlds dramatically, for instance a repeat of the Great Fire of London, occurred, but it made him nervous to think of what was really going on that it took this time to devise.**

**"What do you think they're planning? I mean, something is going to happen sooner or later and it's bound to be something big. What if they-"**

**"Harry, stop," interrupted an exasperated Hermione, "We've been over this a thousand times already. Will you please drop it?"**

**"Yeah mate," agreed Ron, "there's nothing you can do 'bout it really. So … why do you even bother to try and figure it out? Besides, your paranoia's starting to put the rest of us on edge. Ya' need to relax a little."**

**"Relax. You want me to relax?" Harry deadpanned, "There's a raging homicidal, bestial, misanthropic maniac on the loose with even more loony, bigoted followers, with numbers growing by the day, and you want me to relax … How the _bloody hell_ am I supposed to do that?! Why, for _bloody Merlin's sake_, is everyone acting as if _nothing_ ever happened!?" He ranted, volume growing with each word as they spilled forth from his mouth in outrage.**

** Hermione looked around the Common Room, all eyes were on the three of them, all eyes were staring nervously, waiting for something to happen. She stood abruptly from her comfortable position in nice poufy armchair by the fire, grabbed Harry's wrist in a firm grip, the strength of which bewildered Harry, and yanked him off the sofa; Ron obediently stood and followed them out of the portrait hole, pushing his best friend out and after Hermione as she led the way, half-dragging the protesting boy.**

**"Hermione! Stop it, let _go_ already!" Harry protested. He honestly had no idea why Hermione couldn't just answer him when they had been in the Common Room, or now, since they weren't near prying ears anymore, and he wondered where he was being tugged along to.**

**"Hey, where are you taking me? … Why can't you answer me? … Oi! … Hey? Oh c'mon! … H-hey! Ron! Ron stop pushing me! Seriously! Both of you let go!"**

**"Harry, shut up," Hermione deadpanned, continuing to drag Harry along the corridors and up flights of stairs until she came to a dead stop, Harry and Ron stopping in the nick-of-time before running into her causing them all to fall in a heap on the floor, but, they stopped just in time.**

**Hermione spun around on the spot and faced the two boys, "Stay here," she said sternly, mostly to Harry, and then she focused on Ron, "Make sure he doesn't run-off." Hermione then promptly scurried off around the corner leaving the two alone. Harry turned around and faced Ron, staring up at him.**

**"Well?" he questioned.**

**"Don't ask me," Ron said, shrugging it off, not even bothering to glance down at Harry. They shared a look when Hermione shouted from down the corridor around the corner for them to 'come here,' and they rounded the corner. Harry had a moment of 'oh yeah, I knew that' when he saw Hermione standing in the doorway to the Room of Requirement and Ron … well Ron had one of the dumbest-looking, slack-jawed expressions on his face that caused Hermione to giggle and Harry to snort. Hearing that, Ron proceeded to look downright confused.**

**"What?" he asked. Harry and Hermione just shook their heads at him and went inside, leaving Ron to shut the door behind them.**

** The Room of Requirement now looked like a replica of the Gryffindor Common Room and, as usual, they situated themselves in the chairs around the hearth.**

** Harry sat expectantly in his comfy chair, watching Ron and Hermione. They, in turn, were giving other looks silently communicating in the same way those couples that are completely in tune with one another do. After a few minutes of staring at Ron and Hermione, in their sickeningly sweet couple mode, Harry was at the breaking point of his patience and could feel his dinner wanting to come back up thanks his two best friend's lovey-dovey antics.**

**"Enough is enough already! Will you two please stop it with the coupley, lovey-dovey, eye communication thingy! It's makin' me sick!" Harry snapped when his patience did as well.**

**"Really now Harry, we're just trying to figure out the best way to tell you some … well, some 'bad' news, I mean the entire school has been saying-"**

**"Harry's off his rocker and has gone off the deep end!" Ron chipped in, cutting Hermione off.**

**"… _that_ for a month now. Thank you Ronald for that interruption." Hermione continued after Ron's two-cents was added.**

**"Heh heh … yea … Harry … actually, there's something else, good news," Ron glanced over at Hermione and she gave him an encouraging smile, "we, that is … Hermione and I wanted to tell you before anyone else. Look mate, we … don't look at me like that! It's creepy!"**

**"Harry, stop it. Harry!" Harry glanced over at Hermione and complied with her command and she spoke again. "Good. Now look, I know that it's hard to relax with all that's going on, what with You-know-who back and the Death Eaters on the move and everything but, you really do need to lighten-up some. I mean, it's not right for you to push your anxiety onto everyone else. They-"**

**"But they need to be thinking about it now! Before it's too late to do anything!"**

**Hermione let out an enormous sigh, "Harry, they _are_ thinking about it. But, they also want to be happy and do things now, while they have the chance to still do it. I'm not asking you to not think about it at all, it's in the back of everyone's mind and you should let it be in the back of yours for awhile too." Harry stared at her, thinking about what she said, mulling it over in his mind. After a pregnant pause Hermione tentatively asked, "Will you try it?"**

**"I … I guess I never thought of it that way before … does the whole school really want to avoid me?"**

**Ron nodded his head slowly, "Yeah … yeah they do, but only because you've been acting loony lately. I mean, even _Malfoy_ hasn't bothered to be a git for awhile now, he hasn't played pranks, or gotten under skin."**

**"I … yeah, you're right. That's kind of weird, I mean it's Malfoy we're talking about here … I can't believe Malfoy is related to Sirius. It just doesn't seem possible."**

**"Harry … Harry are you … do you need to talk to someone about losing him? You know you-"**

**Harry's face went completely blank and he stood up, immediately cutting Hermione off. "I'm fine. I'm going to go back to the Common Room, then I'm going to bed." Harry walked to the door and was about to open it when Ron spoke.**

**"Harry! We didn't get to tell you our news! And you never told us if you'd take it easy or not!"**

**Harry looked over his shoulder at them and said, "I'll try okay? I'll try not to think about it too much … it's not like The Order isn't doing anything, so it shouldn't be okay for me to try for awhile. Oh, and congratulations you two. It's about bloody time." He smiled and left, leaving the two staring after him with dumbfounded expressions on their faces.**


	2. Chapter 2: Encounters of the Weird Kind

Red: YEY!!! second chappie!

Valac: Weren't you talking about writing a thing about me and Kusaka?

Red: Valac! Bad Valac! That's still tbd!

Kusaka: You, are an idiot Valac.

Valac: Well at least I didn't lose my crystal like some people!

Red: Valac *sigh* you are an idiot. I suggest you run or warp or fly or ... just get away from 'Saka. Like now.

Kusaka: VALAC!!!!!

Valac: Yikes! *runs away*

Itachi: Disclaimer is same as always and no flames, I provide the hot stuff.

Red: Itachi!!!!! *glomps* Time now? You have the equipment right?

Itachi: *smirk* I'm always prepared. *drags Red away*

Naruto: Well ... that'll be interesting ... have fun reading!

**For Lack of a Better Word: Chapter 2  
**

**Encounters of the Weird Kind  
**

**Harry had decided to do as Ron and Hermione asked of him and he had stayed up until 2 in the morning mulling it over and after he came to a conclusion on the best possible course of action he finally was able to fall asleep, and slept like a baby. The next morning he was overjoyed to learn it was the weekend, otherwise he would have overslept, and missed his morning classes … again … and he did not want to face the professors' wrath again … and breakfast, he would have missed that as well, but he did actually skip out on that and was now starving so he made his way down to the Great Hall just in time for lunch.**

** Halfway between Gryffindor Tower and the Great Hall, Harry came across the troublesome trickster of a ghost, Peeves, and decided that it would be much easier to circumvent said trickster ghost. Therefore, he backtracked and as he rounded the corner he realized that he was about to walk past Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.**

**"Oh bugger," Harry whispered, annoyed. Just then, Myrtle burst through the wall and stared at Harry, tears streaming down her ghostly face. Vaguely Harry mused if it was possible for ghosts to cry and thought that obviously they could, or at least Myrtle could … as she was prone to doing.**

**"Oh! Harry, thank goodness! Come quickly! Someone's in trouble!" Myrtle shrieked, loudly, as if he wasn't standing two-feet away from her floating place. Then she had the presence of mind to ever so humbly add, "Not that I would mind sharing my cubicle with him. He's a very handsome fellow he is."**

**Harry simply stared at Myrtle, oddly used to these sudden outbursts and sported a look that said 'You've got to be kidding me,' and 'Who'd want to share anything with you' at the same time. Instead, of voicing either thought, Harry nodded his head once and agreed to help, racing after Myrtle into the bathroom, wand at the ready.**

** The first thing Harry noticed was the massive puddle of water on the floor. His gaze was then drawn to the broken sinks, still spouting said water and Harry was quite surprised that the mini lake hadn't extended to the corridor yet. He ventured further inside and observed a pair of feet sticking out from behind a row of stalls. The closer he drew to them, the more apparent it became that there had been a duel here and the owner of the feet had not come out the victor in any way that he could see.**

**"What happened in here?" Harry wondered aloud, awed at the destruction of the rest of the bathroom. "It's as if there were at least four different people dueling at once. With unfavorable odds for this poor bloke." As Harry rounded the last stall and stared at who Myrtle expected him to save he froze in shock, incredulous.**

**"Malfoy!? What the bloody hell happened to you?! No, wait, don't answer that. It's a stupid question really." Harry just stood there awkwardly at Malfoy's feet for a few seconds, his brain running a mile a minute trying to figure out what to do when it hit him. Malfoy wasn't responding smarmily to his comments or insulting his intelligence, he was petrified, completely. He waved his wand, muttering the countercurse for the full-body bind under his breath for good measure and breathed a sigh of relief when Malfoy's body visibly relaxed. Good, he thought, no more giant snakes to deal with … hopefully, he spared a glance back at the sinks then returned his focus to the prone figure of Draco Malfoy at his feet.**

** Harry took a deep breath to calm his nerves, baffled at his nervousness at the same time, and kneeled next to the unconscious bane of his existence.**

**"Well," asked Myrtle, hovering on Harry's left, "is he going to die," she added a hopeful expression plastered on her ghoulish face. Harry glared at her and she pouted at him, wailed when the glare did not diminish, and dove into the nearest toilet.**

**"Great, now I have to talk to myself and pretend I'm not insane for helping Malfoy of all people." He listened for Malfoy's breathing and felt for his pulse. "Well … everything seems normal … other than the fact that he's going to die due to hypothermia if I don't get him dry and out of the freezing water relatively soon and the bruises and fractures that are evident from the … and I should get a message to the Hospital Wing but … he really needs to be warmed up first … but a teacher would be … Dobby!"**

** With a crack Dobby was standing where Myrtle had been floating only minutes ago.**

**"No time to talk Dobby," Harry immediately began talking, "I need a favor."**

**"Anything for Harry Potter! What is you needing sir?"**

**"I need you to go fetch Madame Pomfrey and-"**

**"Is Harry Potter hurt? Should Dobby be-"**

**"Dobby! I'm fine! It's him who needs help." Dobby finally took notice of where they were and what was around them, including, lastly the figure of Draco Malfoy lying flat on his back and out cold.**

**Dobby gasped, "Master Draco! But why is Harry Pott-"**

**"Dobby! Please! Just go get Pomfrey and tell her to hurry to Myrtle's bathroom. He's really in trouble here." Harry interrupted the odd little elf.**

**"Harry Potter is very noble he is. Dobby will go right away Harry Potter sir." With a snap of his fingers and another crack, he was gone.**

**"Good," sighed Harry, relief flooding him with the knowledge that Pomfrey was on her way, he sighed again and began to help Draco Malfoy as much he could. Which was actually a whole deal greater than he gave himself credit for, considering the way Harry had been using his free time.**

** Harry had taken to spending his free time, his alone time, in the Room of Requirement. He had decided that he wanted to, and for his own good should, learn more spells of various types. Since it was the Room of Requirement, he had plenty of study materials and various things to practice on. He had discovered that he had a strange affinity for healing magic and had furthered his limited knowledge on this subject by learning and practicing, just about mastering, almost all of the healing related spells the Room of Requirement had to offer him. This seemingly immense feat was only made possible due to the myriads of people that avoided him like the plague. Therefore, by the time Madame Pomfrey had arrived, with Snape in tow, he had already had Malfoy lying in a transfigured bed, wrapped up in fuzzy and warm thick blankets, and in dry clothes –that part had been tricky seeing as he wasn't very adept at drying charms. When the two staff members burst into the lavatory, he was in the midst of a simple diagnostic spell to check for further damage, it was about the fifth time he had done so and as he narrowed his scope to center on Malfoy's magic he noticed something off and was trying to search deeper when his wand flew out of his hand into the open palm of his most favorite least favorite professor.**

**"Snape," Harry said, as he followed the path of his wand with his eyes, "can I have my wand back please?" He held out his hand as stood and moved out of the bustling medi-witch's, Madame Pomfrey's, way.**

**"Your wand will be returned to you, Mister Potter," Snape sneered in his usual manner when confronted with Harry, "after I have determined if it contributed to cause harm to Mister Malfoy."**

**"Really Severus," huffed Madame Pomfrey, "all he was doing was helping the poor boy. How else do you suppose Mister Malfoy ended up in such good conditions like this?" She turned her attention to Harry, with a small smile and added, "Good job Mister Potter, there's nothing more for you to do here." With a flick of her wrist Malfoy was levitated out of the room, trailing after Madame Pomfrey, still wrapped up firmly in his blankets, as she bustled off to the Hospital Wing.**

**"The Headmaster will call you to his office later today Potter," Snape barked out as he tossed Harry back his wand and stalked out of Myrtle's bathroom in a flourish of robes.**

**"Well that was fun," Harry commented sarcastically as he flicked his wand in the direction of the bed he had transfigured and it turned back into a cubicle. "I've gotten good at transfiguration. I guess all that time in the Room of Requirement was well spent for a change … guess I found myself a new hobby … Man, I'm hungry." With that, Harry preceded on his original course to the Great Hall … for some much needed sustenance if anyone cared to ask him.**


	3. Chapter 3: Moments and Reminiscing

**For Lack of a Better Word: Chapter 3**

**Moments and Reminiscing**

**Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were currently sitting in the Great Hall for lunch. The newly formed couple was definitely in 'couple mode' but their conversation was askew for being in 'couple mode.'**

**"How d'you think he knew about us already Hermione? I mean … I never told him about it beforehand." Ron commented to his girlfriend, in hopes of achieving a positive response, genuinely curious as to how Harry had managed to notice it considering just how far under wraps they had kept their relationship till they found the right time to tell Harry, and everyone else.**

**"And I did? Honestly Ron, he's our best friend, of course he would figure it out. Speaking of which … have you seen Harry at all today?" Hermione questioned, glancing about the hall in search of their wayward companion.**

**"He was still sleeping like a log when I left to get breakfast and I've been with you since then so … no, I can't say that I have," supplied Ron in his typical manner.**

**Hermione ranted, a short rant, at her lovely boyfriend. "Why didn't you wake him up?! He needs food a whole lot more than you do Ronald Weasley. It's also not good for to sleep-in like this, it's not conducive to healthy to healthy living, especially not when he isn't eating enough, nor you should eat too much, that's just as bad," she leveled a glare at Ron at that, then continued on, "Plus, he's going to miss lunch if he doesn't show up soon." Hermione fretted, glancing about the hall to find Harry.**

**"Give him a break Hermione," Ron said, attempting to defend Harry from Hermione's rant, "He hasn't been sleeping well ever since … you know … and he was so soundly asleep when I was working on heading down to breakfast that I just … I couldn't wake him. It just didn't seem right," Ron shrugged.**

**"Oh Ron," Hermione exclaimed lovingly and kissed his check prompting a blush to appear on Ron's face as he stared at Hermione and they fell into silently communicating again.**

** Harry entered the Great Hall and sat down across from his two best friends, just in time to hear, and see, the sickeningly sweet couple moment.**

**"Ugh, I don't think I want anything to eat anymore. I've had a weird enough day already for waking up 'bout an hour ago. Lovey dovey stuff is so unappetizing," Harry said jokingly, announcing his presence.**

**"Harry!" Came the startled voice of Hermione, "You startled me! When did you get here?" Then Hermione began piling food onto his plate, mothering him like Molly Weasley would have.**

**"Yeah mate, I didn't see you come in. Oh, try the chicken, it's delicious," said Ron, putting chicken on top of his plate, already piled with food thanks to Hermione.**

**Harry snorted, "You two were way too into 'couple mode' to even notice a stampede of Hungarian Horntails, let alone anything else. Mmmmm … this chicken is good."**

**"Hahahaha! That's a good one Harry!" Seamus Finnegan exclaimed, moving down the bench and settling in next to Harry. Harry smiled around his mouthful of food, too engrossed in the task of eating to respond, he was starving.**

**"Yeah," said Dean Thomas, moving around and sitting on the other side of Harry, "I'm glad to see you're acting more like you." He smiled at Harry's questioning glance and shook his head, chuckling, "It's nothing, it's nice to see you so enthusiastic about eating."**

**"You had us all worried for awhile there," chirped Neville Longbottom, sitting down next to Hermione, across from Dean, "We were getting ready to have this big intervention for you, using the Room of Requirement and … but it looks like we won't have to anymore." He smiled happily to himself, munching on some tart for dessert snack.**

**"And I was looking forward t that too," mock-pouted Ginny, sliding in next to her brother, "but it's good to have you back Harry."**

**"Thanks guys," Harry said, swallowing his mouthful of food, and giving them a small, genuine smile.**

** With Harry back to being 'normal' and non-paranoid, the rest of lunch commenced without incident. Dean and Seamus went off somewhere in the castle while the rest of the group headed outside, it was a surprisingly nice day out. They traipsed along the grounds for a couple of hours before heading back inside and up to their Common room. As they flopped down in front of the hearth it roared to life, and as if something a light bulb went off when something just clicked, Hermione remembered a comment that Harry had made earlier.**

**"Harry," she asked, getting a distant 'hmm?' of acknowledgement she ventured on, "what exactly did you mean earlier?"**

**Harry glanced over at her from his comfortable position, eyebrow raised, "I did my school work yesterday, thank you very much." He kept his gaze on her, expecting some sort of reply to that.**

**"No … no that's not what I meant. Although that is good to hear for a change … I meant this morning. That bit about 'a weird enough day already,' I had meant to ask then but …"**

**Harry twitched in response, shifting his gaze to the fire burning in the hearth, and said, "Oh … that," in a 'reluctant to recall it' sort of tone. "It's nothing," he added, after a pointed look from Hermione that he caught from his peripheral vision, "just Peeves up to his stunts again."**

**"If you say so," she said in a tone that let Harry know that this conversation was far from being finished but would be left alone for now.**

**Harry nodded at the silent agreement and closed his eyes, enjoying the moment of contented chatter among good, close friends. Vaguely he realized that it had been a long time since they had all relaxed like this, together, and he smiled, allowing the conversation to become a light buzz. Unbidden, the image of Draco Malfoy lying on the floor in a puddle of water and with skin almost blue, body broken and tortured and battered popped into his mind and he bolted upright, eyes snapping open in a mixture of shock and horror, his hand clutching his suddenly off-beat heart.**

**"Bloody hell mate, you don't have to get so worked up over a silly story," Ron said, baffled at Harry's reaction to, what he thought was the tale he spinning to the rest of the group.**

**"What?" Harry blankly asked Ron, "Uh, no … never mind. I'm going to go walk around the castle for a bit, it's getting a bit stuffy in here. See you at dinner." Harry stood up and began walking towards the portrait hole.**

**"Yeah, have fun mate." Ron called after him and he waved vaguely back vaguely as the portrait hole closed behind him, his mind racing at the implications of his thoughts.**

** Hermione watched him leave, looking at him with worry the most prominent but also her eyes showed that she was viewing him as if he was a complicated jigsaw puzzle that needed to be solved but couldn't be because she was missing a handful of crucial pieces.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Toubles of Draco Malfoy

**For Lack of a Better Word: Chapter 4**

**The Troubles of Draco Malfoy  
**

**Draco Malfoy was sitting up in his cot in the Hospital Wing, his current mood: extremely annoyed and he was in this mood for three reasons. The first being the fact that he was _in_ the Hospital Wing in the first place; secondly, was the reason for why he was under Madame Pomfrey's smothering care, his hold on Slytherin house was slipping, as well as his social standing and it was becoming unavoidably obvious as time went on that they were planning to usurp his position at some point in the relatively near future; lastly, well, his eardrums were going to start bleeding if the one and only pug-faced Pansy Parkinson didn't shut her mouth and leave the vicinity of his hearing range … and sight if he had anything to say about.**

**"Come _on_ Draco," Pansy whined in a high-pitched voice she undoubtedly thought was cute but was really able to able to break glass with its shrillness, "you promised me that you'd go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend and buy me something pretty to wear to the Yule Ball, which you agreed to take me to." She pouted in a way that she obviously convinced herself was adorable … or seductive, one could never really tell when it came to Pansy … or they never particularly cared to.**

**"Pansy, what in the world are you on about? I never agreed to any of that. It's nonsense." Draco said, completely miffed at her failure at insinuating that he found her attractive, which he didn't, even in the slightest bit, and he did his best to be relatively polite but he was on the edge of his patience.**

**"But Draco-" Pansy attempted to get her way but Draco had had enough, as had his poor ears.**

**"No. Now stop sniveling, it's not very becoming for any young woman to do, nor is it attractive in any way. In fact, you've managed to give me a headache, and I believe my ears are bleeding thanks to your insipid shriek of a voice." Draco practically hissed in his most mild tone possible at this point of annoyance.**

**"That wasn't necessary," she pouted again and Draco glared, not buying it for a second, "Oh alright, you didn't say any of that. But, honestly Draco, you should be more careful about what you say and to whom you say it."**

**Draco's eyes narrowed and flashed with something Pansy couldn't recognize and he replied lowly, with malice dripping off every syllable, "Don't use those words on me, Pansy. I'm the one who taught you that lesson. Or have you forgotten?"**

**Pansy shuddered frightfully at the tone in his voice and the cold body language her mind flashing back to the lesson that took far too long for her to learn, she pushed the images aside and stood to leave.**

**"You should be nicer to me you know." Pansy braved feeling his wrath again, this time with the dignity that she was raised to posses, and with a distinct purpose in mind. "I _am_ one of the last links you have to your _former_ glory as the 'Prince of Slytherin' after all. Need _I_ remind _you_ of the …" she smirked, the sight sickening to Draco who had taught her how to smirk like that and he remained emotionless, "**_discussion_** you got into earlier today?" she finished, an odd lilt of haughtiness to her voice.**

**Draco stared blankly at her, inwardly seething, and said, "I think _we're finished_ here. I _suggest_ you leave before you say something that you'll _undoubtedly_ come to _regret_ later," 'again' he added silently. A brief look of fear flickered across her face before she had the presence of mind to school her expression. Once back to her usual mindset she sauntered away, in the way an elephant does, throwing a casual 'See you later Dracy' over her shoulder as she left the Hospital Wing, headed toward the Great Hall.**

** Draco stared after her, cursing her to high hell in his head because she had called him 'Dracy' and he despised that nickname. Mostly tough, it was because she was right. She _was_ one of the last links he had to his former glory … "At least at Hogwarts" he thought, "then again, I _do_ have something to care of before the year is out." As Madame Pomfrey brought him over his tray of food with his dinner on it, he ate mechanically, lost in his thoughts as he calculated and planned, nit-picking at the details and pulling things together till he had the perfect plan … he hoped.**


End file.
